Once Upon a December by Amy E. Reichert Once Upon a December by Amy E. Reichert is best enjoyed on a dark and dreary winter weekend with a Danish pastry and a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Genre/Categories/Setting: Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, UpLit, Magical Realism, Romance, Christmas, Milwaukee (Wisconsin, USA) *This post contains Amazon affiliate links. My Summary of Once Upon a December: Thank you #NetGalley @BerkleyPub #BerkleyBuddyReads for a complimentary e ARC of #OnceUponADecember upon my request. All opinions are my own. Astra Noel Snow and her friends enjoy a tradi ..read more

The Matchmaker’s Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman Set in New York City, The Matchmaker’s Gift shares the imagined story of a Jewish grandmother and granddaughter who share gifts of matchmaking. Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Jewish, Family Life, Multi-Generational, Romance, Magical Realism, New York City *This post contains Amazon affiliate links. My Summary of The Matchmaker’s Gift: Thanks #NetGalley @StMartinsPress for a complimentary e ARC of #TheMatchmakersGift upon my request. All opinions are my own. In 1910, young Sara demonstrates a skill in matchmaking. This troubles the ol ..read more

October 16, 2020 South of the Buttonwood Tree by Heather Webber Genre/Categories: Southern Fiction, Magical Realism, Family Drama *This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Summary: Blue Bishop lives in the charming small town of Buttonwood, Alabama, and she has a sixth sense for finding lost things. The magical buttonwood tree in the woods is important in the community because people can leave their life questions in a rabbit hole of the tree and the next day the tree will leave an answer for you. One day as Blue is walking in the woods, she discovers an abandoned baby south of the magical ..read more

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell is poignant Literary Fiction, the story of a mother’s grief, and the winner of the Women’s Fiction Prize for 2020. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Literary Fiction, Family Life, Mothers and Children, Grief, Magical Realism, 1500s England *This post contains Amazon affiliate links. TW: Review mentions the death of a child. My Summary of Hamnet: Hamnet is set in 1580s Warwickshire, England and is the highly imagined story of William Shakespeare’s family and his wife, Agnes (Anne). This is a poignant and emotional story focused on marria ..read more

May 24, 2019 The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister Welcome to my stop on The Scent Keeper Blog Tour sponsored by St Martins Press. Thanks to Clare Maurer at St Martins for the invitation! Thanks to #NetGalley #StMartinsPress for a free digital copy of #TheScentKeeper in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. *This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Genre/Categories: Fiction, Coming of Age, Family Life, Magical Realism Summary: Emmeline lives on a small isolated and remote island with her father. They function as survivalists by foraging and growing their own food. Even th ..read more

August 31, 2018 The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar Genre/Categories: Fiction, Mythology, Folk Tale, Magical Realism, Coming of Age, Syrian, Story Within a Story Summary: The Map of Salt and Stars is really two stories. One story is contemporary and the other is a mythological folk tale that takes place 800 years earlier. In the contemporary story, Nour’s mother, a Syrian-American, a cartographer and painter of beautiful maps, decides to move Nour and her sisters from New York City back to Syria after the death of Nour’s father. The mother feels a strong desire to live clos ..read more